Ramayana Kalpavrksam 2024

For a second year in a row, Ramayana Kalpavrksam, a potpourri of talks, shows, performances; all connected to Ramayana, our extraordinary civilizational kavya, was presented by Padma Shri. Dr. Ananda Shankar Jayanth. We at Brhat, as one of the partners, along with the Ministry of Culture, GoI, enjoyed every minute of this ayana towards Rama. We partnered with Natyarambha in the past for Bharata Uvaca too. All credit goes to the people of Bhagyanagar who for a year and more have been attending and encouraging our attempts to showcase India’s incomparable arts, culture, and heritage. You may read more about the Bharata Uvacha event of Aug 5, 2023 here. And about the Ramayana Kalpavrksam event on 31st March-2nd April 2023 here.

This year we were humbled to have not one or two but three spiritual leaders and institutions bless us with their presence and pravachanams. On 29th March 2024, Sri Sri Sri Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swami along with Ahobila Ramanuja Jeeyar Swami, graced us with their physical presence to light the inaugural lamp and to witness the story of Bhakta Ramadasu as choreographed and performed by Shankarananda Kalakshetra. Daaji (Kamlesh D. Patel), head of Shri Rama Chandra Mission or the Global Heartfulness Centre at Kanha Shanti Vanam in Hyderabad, sent his greetings and best wishes via video which was screened for the public, and Shatavadhani Gannavaram Lalithadithya garu of Sringeri Sharada Peetham spoke in Telugu on the importance of Ramayana in an hour long video made exclusively for this event. All the videos are available here for the benefit of those who were unable to attend. Chief Guest Padma Bhushan Suchitra Ella ji, Managing Director of Bharat Biotech, who also lit the inaugural lamp, spoke of her own personal learnings from the Ramayana. Padma Shri. Guru Chitra Visweswaran also lit the lamp and spoke of Ramayana’s influence on her life.

The dance ballet Sri Rama Namam: Entha Ruchi Raa describing the life and works of Bhakta Ramadasu of Bhadrachalam (Telangana), choreographed by Guru Ananda Shankar Jayanth, had her in the lead as Ramadasu himself. The performance highlighted his historical story of bhakti, and ensuing miracles, wherein Rama and Lakshmana appear before the ruler Tanashah and pay off Ramadasu’s debts that he owed the State Treasury, which he had used up to build a temple for Lord Rama. This was rendered in a son et lumière manner via a multi media combination of Bharatanatyam, sound effects, lighting and digital media. Popular kritis composed by the bard of Bhadrachalam, including the ninda stuti Paluke Bangaramayana, were all depicted by the students of Shankarananda Kalakshetra in this one hour presentation. A detailed review of the same may be accessed here.

After the inaugural speeches, and the dance ballet Smt. Swati Goel Sharma, Senior Editor at Swarajya, spoke from her ground reports, on the age old story of struggle to bring back Ram Lalla to his rightful place in Ayodhya and how the citizens, the people of this city, had kept the struggle alive and had not let up even for one day for the past five hundred years, until this came to pass on Jan 22nd 2024.

Smt. Shefali Vaidya kickstarted the second day with her presentation of Ramayana on textiles: painting, weaving, and embroidery. An animated discussion between Pankaj Saxena and Nupur Sharma on svayambodha and shatrubodha was next. This was followed by a unique rendition of storytelling interspersed with music by Vinay Varanasi and Vivek Sadasivam, on Shri. Rama Raksha. The evening ended with an ode to Hanuman by the Aayana Dance Company choreographed by Shri. Krishna Manognya Balaraju.

On 31st March 2024, the third and final evening of the three day Ramayana Kalpavrksam, author Aabhas Maldahiyar released his book ‘Babur: The Chessboard King’, and later spoke to Writer G.V. Shivkumar of INDICA on it. Shri. Dushyant Sridhar’s talk on the Sacred Awakening hit the right chord with the audience and everyone was primed up for the grand finale of Rejoicing in Raghu, an IndoSoul music concert by Karthick Iyer and company. Members from the audience joined him in impromptu dancing and brought the three day event to a fitting end.

This year the programming was slightly different; with workshops in the morning from 8.30am to 1.30pm, giving ample time to take a break, eat lunch and rest, before getting back to the venue for the evening shows from 6.00pm to 9.00pm. As part of the workshops, Valmiki’s Ramayana verses in Sanskrit were taught by Udaya Shreyas of the Sanskrit Channel, followed by classes in Mandala and Digital Art by Lakshmi Ambady, ending with the Dance Ideation Workshop by Guru Dr. Anupama Kylash on Purushottama: Exploring Shakti and Bhakti in the stories of Rama. Classical dancers were privileged to have a tête-à-tête with Padma Shri. Guru Chitra Visweswaran, who mesmerized the youth with her energy, her passion for classical dance, and her delightful answers which were empathetic as well as appreciative of contemporary needs.

Kiosks with handicrafts, cultural knick knacks, saris, and books were open all through the evenings, for people to browse and buy between programs and during breaks, with Simply South assisting in catering vegetarian fare for the attendees along with beverages. With this, Ramayana Kalpavrksam has now established itself as a yearly cultural offering from the city of Bhagyanagaram in the service of Shri Rama.

All Photos Credit: Meghashyam